Horton Hatches the Egg
Horton Hatches the Egg is a 1942 Merrie Melodies short directed by Bob Clampett. Plot Clampett's unit didn't use the customary storyboard, but added ideas for the cartoon in Clampett's copy of Seuss' book. Among the elements they added were: * The opening paragraph, starting with "Now once in a jungle . . ." and ending with " . . . up in her tree." * A nonsense song of the time, "The Hut-Sut Song" by Horace Heidt - Words and music by Leo V. Killion, Ted McMichael & Jack Owens, sung by Horton and his son. * A fish caricature of Peter Lorre who commits suicide after seeing Horton on a boat * Mayzie's breathy Katharine Hepburn impression. * Mayzie unsuccessfully attempts to lure Horton using sex appeal. * Several other bits of dialogue are omitted or rewritten. Availability * (1991) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 4: Bob Clampett * (1991) VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 4: Bob Clampett * (1999) VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 7: Welcome to Wackyland (USA Turner print, uncensored) * (2000) VHS - The Best of Dr. Seuss (USA Turner print, uncensored) * (2003) DVD - The Best of Dr. Seuss (USA Turner print, uncensored) * (2008) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 4 * (2008) DVD - Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who Deluxe Edition Censorship * The scene of the Peter Lorre fish seeing Horton on the boat and asiding to the audience, "Well, now I've seen everything" and shooting himself in the head was censored when it aired on TBS, TNT, The WB, and Cartoon Network (barring its appearance on The Bob Clampett Show) and is now airing censored on Boomerang.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-h.aspx * The version of this cartoon shown on the TNT special In Search of Dr. Seuss re-dubs and re-edits the entire short, and also removes the opening and ending title cards from the Blue Ribbon reissue. Goofs * The AAP print uses the 1955-56 Merrie Melodies ending card. * The LaserDisc print changes the ending title to that of a 1949 or 1953-54 season ending Color Rings scheme plastered with the 1946-55 Looney Tunes music. Notes * This is the only Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies short based on a Dr. Seuss book. * The original titles have been found but have not yet been restored for DVD. * "Horton Hatches The Egg" was adapted from the Dr. Seuss book of the same name. Horton and the Peter Lorre fish were voiced by Kent Rogers. Mayzie and the elephant bird were voiced by Sara Berner. Frank Graham narrated. Mel Blanc performed most of the other voices. * The Turner "dubbed version" print retains the 1941-55 MM end music (applies to both the USA and EU prints). Gallery horton's model sheet.jpg|Horton's model sheet. References External Links * "Horton Hatches The Egg" on toontube.com. Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:Shorts Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett Category:Blue Ribbon reissues Category:1942 Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons animated by Warren Batchelder Category:Cartoons animated by Lou Lilly Category:Cartoons animated by Bill Melendez Category:Cartoons animated by Bob North Category:Cartoons animated by Cornett Wood Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Kent Rogers Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Richard H. Thomas Category:Cartoons with layouts by Earl Klein Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger Category:Caricatures of real people Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package Category:One-Shot Cartoons Category:Cartoons with missing Leon Schlesinger credits Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist